ASTANA (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as an experienced and intelligent politician, but said he did not believe Trump was safe after attempts on his life.
Trump was injured in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. In a separate incident in September, a man was charged with attempted murder after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle at one of Trump’s golf courses in Florida.
Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan after a summit, Putin said he was shocked by the way the US election campaign had developed.
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He cited “the absolutely uncivilized methods used in the fight against Trump, up to and including an assassination attempt – and more than once.”
“By the way, in my opinion, he is not safe now,” Putin said.
“Unfortunately, several incidents have happened throughout the history of the United States. I think he (Trump) is intelligent and I hope he is careful and understands this.”
Putin, who is himself heavily protected, said he was even more shocked by the way Trump’s family and children were criticized by political opponents during the US election campaign.
He called such behavior “abhorrent” and said that in Russia even “bandits” would not resort to such methods.
Speaking about what he described as the Biden administration’s decision to escalate the war in Ukraine by allowing Kiev to attack Russia with Western missiles, Putin speculated that it could be a ploy to help Trump by give him something to turn back or a way to make his life more difficult with Russia.
Regardless, Putin said he thought Trump would “find the solution” and said Moscow was ready for dialogue.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Andrew Osborn and Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
